SpongeBob SquarePants Is Headed to Broadway

That’s right, Mr. Squarepants will decamp from Bikini Bottom for New York City before the end of 2017, as Varietyreports that a SpongeBob SquarePants musical is headed to Broadway. The show debuted in Chicago last year as The SpongeBob Musical, and will now take over the Palace Theater, starting in December.

Here’s how Variety describes this thing:

The show, the first big Broadway bet for Nickelodeon as a lead producer, will bring with it the work of an unusual collection of well-known music acts that have each written a tune for the show. Steven Tyler and Joe Perry (of Aerosmith), John Legend, Sara Bareilles, Panic! at the Disco, T.I., The Flaming Lips, Lady Antebellum, Cyndi Lauper and They Might Be Giants are among the names that have contributed to the score.

If this was a mixtape, it would be one of the weirdest mixtapes ever made. But it’s going to be an actual album of actual songs featured in an actual Broadway show. Go figure.

The plot "centers on a volcano that threatens the undersea town of Bikini Bottom and everyone who lives in it." Rather than puppets (like The Lion King musical), the show features human actors playing the popular characters from the long-running cartoon series.

Shows based on movies have been a huge part of Broadway for years (I recently saw Groundhog Day: The Musical, and it was really good), as have jukebox musicals that build narratives around the libraries of beloved pop artists. This sounds like a combo of both. Previews for SpongeBob Squarepants begin November 6.